Female Hair Transplant Patient - Dr. Epstein

[Felicity]

Bill-

 

I did notify Dr. Epstein of my posting about him and I am sorry if I did not do things correctly on this forum, ie. notifying the doctor that I was posting about him and starting my own thread. I did not know I was supposed to start my own thread. I had already told Dr. Epstein of my gripes before I posted on this forum though. Yes-I know he offered to implant more hairs for free. I am reluctant to do so though, for obvious reasons. I have posted a reply to Dr. Epstein's post.

[Felicity]

want hairs-

 

Just to reply to your post...I am sure you are fine with your scalp transplant with Dr. Epstein. There are good reports on this forum about him. I, in no way, wanted to make you nervous about your procedure. I had an eyebrow transplant-which is a totally different thing...and I am not unrealistic, by the way.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Felicity,

 

Thank you for your post.

 

Sharing your experience on our completely open forum is perfectly acceptable.

 

We do not censor this forum nor do we discourage you from sharing your experience with us.

 

I think it shows class that you contacted Dr. Epstein directly so he may share his side of the story. Legal paperwork and signatures may be required to release certain information. If that is the case, I'm sure he'll contact you directly to ask for the necessary authorization.

 

Just for the record...I never said that you HAVE to consult with the doctor before you post your experience on our open forum. I only suggested that you do this in the event that Dr. Epstein was willing to help you and that you were willing to accept his help. Clearly the help has been offered.

 

Personally, I can understand your reluctance to allow Dr. Epstein to help you given that you feel that you've been neglected and that you didn't get the results that you wanted the first time. Nothing is being taken away from you and your experience.

 

I still believe however, that Dr. Epstein can help you achieve a more cosmeticly pleasing look if you give him the opportunity but this choice is up to you.

 

The question is....where do we go from here? What would you like to accomplish?

 

I look forward to Dr. Epstein's response on this as well.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Felicity]

Dr. Epstein-

 

Just to clarify-I mentioned some specifics of my case in order to clarify my position that I am not unrealistic. If I don't talk about specifics, then I can not explain my position. I already had postings of my experience on the forum with the wacky hair, etc. so it is not really news. I do understand that you have had a good reputation for 15 years and that is wonderful and I wish I could say that I join in with the rest of the 15 years of happy patients.

[Felicity]

I just wanted the forum to know that I have now shared my experience with Dr. Epstein and it is not productive for the Dr. and I to go back and forth on this case on this forum or for me to share any more specifics about my experience. I felt I had to answer his post, but that will be it. You all know my experience now, and he knows my concerns, and there is no jury here, so everyone can make their own conclusion to the experience and the posts on it and maybe be more proactive in their research. I will not say anything more about the case, and if anyone wants more information about the process, etc. then they can send me a private email. I already got one that I will reply to. To go over specifics with the doctor or share more gripes on this forum is not productive. I will now just get your feedback and reply to general questions on the forum. Not talk about specifics with Dr. Epstein or about Dr. Epstein. I am not trying to discredit his name and I want it to be publicly known that I have been in contact with a few doctors in the past year that, if they know of him, have said that he has a great reputation. I have not heard anything bad about his practice. There are not many posts about eyebrow transplants on this forum, or looking for a doctor to do them, so I doubt that he has to worry too much about his reputation. I wish there were so that I could have been better educated. His scalp transplants look great. I did not mean to appear to use this forum as an Epstein-bashing.

[Jeffrey Epstein MD, FACS]

I do welcome any discussion of my work on this forum- to date, comments from those on whom I have worked have been nothing but stellar. Anyone who comes in contact with me knows that I am a perfectionist to the nth degree. This includes the way I discuss procedures with patients, going over their goals and providing them with realistic expectations as well as reviewing the risks and benefits. In fact, in the letter I send to all my patients about eyebrows, there is a specific area where I discuss that eyebrow transplants, unlike scalp transplants, do not produce perfect results - rather they improve the fullness and appearance of the eyebrows.

I would guess that no fewer than 10 emails were sent back and forth from my office to Felicity prior to her having her procedure. Furthermore, I have at all times been actively encouraging of follow up questions and trying to help the patient- including offering a touch up procedure at no charge. I have performed many eyebrow transplants, likely more than anyone in the field over the past 3 years, and included in these cases have been some patients for reparative/revision procedures.

 

Jeffrey Epstein, MD, FACS

www.eyebrowtransplantation.com

www.foundhair.com

www.womenscenterforhairloss.com

[Felicity]

Dr. Epstein-

 

I made a promise to this forum that I would not discuss the case in any specifics anymore with you on this forum or about you to the forum. I feel that I have gone out of my way to give you the benefit of the doubt about your practice with your other patients over the 15

years of business and in not releasing my pictures to the public forum. My experience still stands as is and I see what I see. If anyone wants to notify me by private email about anything else in specifics, then they can do so.

[lisa]

sandyh

who did you use in Phila?

[Island Girl]

Sandy,

I went to the NuHart Hair Clinic and I was very happy with everyone there and with my results. It will be 2 years this winter and it has made a big difference in the way I see myself.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Island Girl,

 

Glad to see you make an appearance! How have you been? Any updated photos you are willing to share with us?

 

Bill

[Island Girl]

Bill,

Thanks for the "HI"! Unfortunately, I've been so busy working almost all the time that I dont have much time to spend at the computer when I get home. I HAVE to learn how to post a before and after picture, that is the only reason I haven't done that yet. I think you are doing a great job in this forum though! Keep up the good work, there are alot of people out there who cling to every word for encouragement like I did a couple of years ago. :-)

[Bill - Seemiller]

Island Girl,

 

I'm really glad that I was able to help you. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

I look forward to seeing your pictures. If you need any help, let me know

 

Bill

[Guest eyebrow]

I just found this thread after researching eyebrow transplants for some months. I had read a post on an international forum from a woman who lost existing eyebrow hair after her surgery.

 

I contacted Dr. Epstein, since he is the recognized expert, I asked him about this possibility. I didn't use the term "shock loss" since I thought that only applied to miniaturized follicles.

 

Dr. Epstein's response, which had a tone of surprise, was that he didn't know why that would happen and that adding hair would just result in more hair. It now seems that this is not entirely uncommon so, given his hundreds of eyebrow surgeries, I would imagine he has heard of loss from patients other than Felicity. This is of serious concern to me since I do have eyebrows and just want them augmented.

 

I communicated with 2 of his patients who were happy but both started without any brow hair so, of course, they had no visible hair loss.

Like Felicity, I wish there were more opportunities to ask questions of other women who have had eyebrow transplants. (And not just referrals from medical offices for obvious reasons.)

 

So, the question is, is eyebrow shock loss common? If so, why wouldn't the information be given clearly to all potential patients - including in response to my inquiry?

 

I was close to making my decision but this has given me real pause. I always figured the worst case scenario was unruly hairs that could just be tweezed out. Like others here, I am looking for all available information to weigh risks and make the right choices for myself.

[Bill - Seemiller]

eyebrow,

 

From my understanding, eyebrow hair transplant "shock loss" can occur just the same as scalp hair transplant shock loss.

 

Read this article about shock loss.

 

I emailed Dr. Epstein about your post however, so he can address it from his point of view. It wouldn't be fair for us to assume what was or wasn't discussed in your private conversation with him.

 

Thanks and best wishes,

 

Bill

[Guest eyebrow]

Thanks for the reply. I was trying to find my email from Dr. Epstein but maybe we communicated through his site... In any case, I know Dr. Epstein is on the vanguard in this procedure so I'm trying to understand how - and how often - normal, non-miniaturized healthy brow hair follicles could be permanently traumatized in a transplantation using the latest techniques. That seems to be the case in Felicity's surgery.

[Jeffrey Epstein MD, FACS]

I want to thank Bill for bringing to my attention this post. I greatly appreciate the effort to clarify things.

 

I hope that EYEBROW understands that, in the over 200 eyebrow transplant procedures I have performed over the past 3 years, I have had literally just one patient who has had the experience of Felicity. And while I do feel quite bad about this, I have yet to see her in person post-procedure, and have offered several times to have her schedule a touch up procedure to see what I can do to give her the very best results so that she will hopefully be happier.

 

While around 40% of the eyebrow procedures I have performed have been on patients with little to no hair, the majority have had some hair and in them the goal was to thicken the brows up. In these cases, there has been very little if any shock loss- in fact, I do not recall a single patient complaining of/reporting this phenomenon to me-and if I have not had any other patient but Felicity reporting it, then I can assume it occurs very infrequently. However, the last think I would ever want to do would be to mislead my prospective patients- one of the reasons I have been so successful, especially in all my work with women, is my always providing realistic worse case scenarios in my pre-op consultation- this way, I can exceed these expectations and have particuarly happy patients. So, I would want you to know, EYEBROW, that while shock hair loss is a very atypical occurrence, it can infrequently occur, although not to my typical experience.

 

Thank you.

Jeffrey Epstein, MD, FACS

Miami and NYC

www.eyebrowtransplantation.com

[Jeffrey Epstein MD, FACS]

One other thing.

The ability to minimize or avoid altogether shock hair loss (whether of the scalp or the eyebrows) is due to several steps, including not placing an excessive amount of grafts, making all recipient sites parallel to existing hairs, and using the very smallest recipient sites. It is only with an experienced hand guided by sound judgement can these steps be accomplished.

 

Jeffrey Epstein, MD, FACS

[Guest eyebrow]

Dr. Epstein, Thank you for the reassurance about shock loss. As much as I would rather think about the benefits,I obviously want to make a decision with my eyes wide open to the risks, too.

[Soniya]

Its great to see so many women out here.I am a 27 year old woman..yeah 27..n my hairs thinned out on the top part of my head.I am planning a hair transplant in a month from now with a reputed dr from miami .If there is ne woman who can help answer my questions it would be great!u know how apprehensive one can get.so plz girls i would appreciate it.I have a general idea abt the transplant .But DOES IT WORK FOR WOMEN?the doctor I chose has great reputation and so does his staff but at the end of the day its all abt the HAIR.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Soniya,

 

Welcome to our forum community.

 

Firstly, I'd suggest that you create your own thread by clicking "New" and "discussion" above. This way you will get more responses.

 

Hair transplantation can work for women however, there often times a different approach must be taken depending on the type of hair loss you are experiencing and for what reason. There are a number of female hair transplant results posted in the "hair transplant patient photo albums" section as well. I'd recommend viewing some of those as well.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Soniya]

Thank you very much Bill!

[hathercali]

Hello Felicity, thank you for posting your negative experience with an eyebrow transplant. Although I am DEEPLY sorry to hear of your situation, I think you are doing a great service by warning others of the possibility of a less than desired outcome. It is very easy to find people "plugging" docs and singing praises, but this is the kind of review we need to hear about, as most docs minimize the bad and advertise the good. I have been considering a brow transplant (with Epstein actually) for quite some time now and have been in contact via email. I would like to hear more of your story if possible, but am having trouble sending you a message through this site. I hope you are still active here and see this, since the last time you logged in was a while ago. Best wishes to you, hope to hear from you soon.

[Blake Bloxham]

Hather,

 

I don't want to distract too much from your research, but it's worth mentioning that Dr. Epistein is no longer recommended by our hair restoration community. If you would like to review our recommended hair transplant surgeons, please click here.

[hathercali]

Future_HT_Doc,

Thank you for the response and new info, it is greatly appreciated and I will use the link you provided. Not sure if you are at liberty to discuss it, but are there are particular reasons why this is so? I am new to this forum/site and would like to know how docs become members of the coalition, and what could cause them to not be members anymore? I would like to get as much information as I can get before opting for the procedure as I'm sure you can understand. Thanks again for the clarification.

[Blake Bloxham]

Hathercali,

 

I applaud your research! This type of investigating and questioning will really help ensure you select a talented surgeon and optimize your result. If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to create a thread dedicated strictly to your situation or send me a private message with any concerns.

 

Additionally, our community prides itself on transparency (from both patients and physicians) and because of this, we are very open and honest with the way we select, recommend, and continually review hair transplant surgeons - how we recommend hair transplant surgeons.

 

Also, the qualifications for Coalition membership, which is highest category of recommendation we offer, are available for public viewing as well: Coaltion Hair Transplant Surgeons and Coalition membership standards.

 

As far as no longer recommending certain physicians (either Coalition or recommended hair restoration physicians), this really isn't a common occurrence. Furthermore, any information on Dr. Epstein and his recommendation status can be found by utilizing the search function. However, if I recall correctly (I wasn't a Co-Moderator at the time), there were simply some conflicts with regard to the recommendation qualifications I outlined earlier, and we decided to part ways.

 

I hope this helps!